Tomball athletics celebrate the opening of facilities, wins

Laura Trahan

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, January 6, 2003

Tomball athletics had a year of celebration in 2002 with the opening of new athletic facilities. Spring sports excelled bringing home medals, trophies and making it to the playoffs. Fall sports were faced with district realignment that hit the teams harder than expected.

Celebrating success

The year started by celebrating the accomplishments of outgoing senior football players. Tomball High School had four varsity football players sign national letters of intent Feb. 6. The signings will result in an approximate cumulative total of $300,000 in financial aid being given to the players. Seniors Jason Godfrey, Brad Anderson, Reggie Carington and Justin Pemberton all signed letters to play college football. All four players had been named to the all-district team earlier in the year.

Swimming to the fore

The celebrating would continue as an unforeseen sport jumped into the limelight. Tomball High School senior Sara Reddick won a bronze medal in the State Championship University Scholastic League (UIL) swim meet Feb. 23 for placing third in the 100-yard butterfly competition.

Reddick placed first with a time of 56.70 at a regional meet held Feb. 9, making her the first place hopeful for the state competition's preliminary round. She was then seeded second during the state event's finals where she finished third. She has been named an All-American. In 2001, she made first team All-State. She was the only Tomball swimmer to make it to state in 2002 and it was her second year to head to the UIL competition. She is also a member of a United States swim team out of Cy-Fair called Fleet in which she qualified for a U.S. Open meet.

Lotta love

The tennis team also gave the high school something to celebrate when it presented principal Huey Kinchen with the boys trophy that they won at the annual Beachcomber Classic in Galveston. This tournament is sponsored each year by Galveston's O'Connell high school.

Senior, Nick Newman and sophomore Jake Walley defended their doubles title won in 2001 by defeating Strake Jesuit 6-0, 6-1 in the final. Freshman, Evan Bridges, representing Tomball High School for the first time in a tournament, won the singles title by defeating Strake Jesuit 6-4, 7-6 in the final. Sophomores, Travis Eaton and David Lobue won the second place trophy in the doubles "B" division losing to Katy high school in the finals. Sophomore, Derek DeCoste made it to the quarterfinals in the singles "B" division.

In addition, sophomores, Amanda Newman and Ashley Newman won a second place trophy in girls doubles. They lost to Humble high school in the finals.

Realignment

Uncertainty set in for the Cougars in February as they found out what would lie in the future for the school when the UIL released the new district alignments. Although they could face tougher opponents due to a Feb. 4 University Interscholastic League (UIL) realignment grouping them with the Cy-Fair and Magnolia school districts, Tomball Independent School District athletic officials still expect their kids can be competitive. Tomball now faced Magnolia, Cypress-Springs, Cypress-Creek, Cypress-Fairbanks, Cypress-Falls, Jersey Village and Langham Creek in District 16-5A.

"The packets were delivered to all of the schools at 9 a.m. this morning (Feb. 4)," Tomball Athletic Director Bob Fotenot said. "I think we will be competitive. The girls volleyball and softball teams have been traditionally strong at Cy-Fair, but the other programs I believe we can compete in."

The Cougars went out of District 15-5A with a bang. The boys baseball team would get to taste 16-5A competition after dominating in district and finding itself right smack in the middle of playoff competition.

Baseball flourishes

The team, considered young with only four returning starters was not expected to compete well in district 15-5A. Under the leadership of varsity coach Rick Lynch, the Cougars proved everyone wrong as they continued to notch wins.

The team's pitching and defense turned out to be their strongest skills. The team was led in pitching by left handed sophomore Troy Patton along with left handed junior Doug Frame.

The baseball team placed second in district after a controversial call allowed a scored run causing the Cougars to miss forcing the No. 2 ranked Klein Oak Panthers into an extra playoff game to determine the 15-5A District Champion.

Sophomore pitcher Troy Patton entered the game against Klein Oak April 26 with an 8-0 record. He would lose his first game of the season by one unearned run in the fifth inning on what some felt was a questionable call. In the final regular season game, because of injuries and grades, Tomball had seven underclassmen on the field during the game, including four sophomores in the infield.

The Cougars made it to the second round of the playoffs after a heart wrenching game against the Langham Creek Lobos. In the second game of the series against Langham Creek on May 3, Troy Patton continued to keep Langham Creek grasping for anything to hit. Except for one run allowed in the fourth inning, Patton's performance was impressive, keeping the Lobos in the dugout and not on base.

Senior Catcher Huff put the Cougars on the board in the first inning of Game 2. Huff's single scored Dustin Pitchford putting the Cougars in a quick lead. Huff would not stop there, hitting a double in the third inning and eventually scoring the second run for the Cougars. The Lobos scored in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly. The Cougars led 2-1 going into the seventh inning.

In a terrible seventh inning, the determination of the Cougars would leave them classified as winners. Patton loaded the bases with no outs. The Cougars refused to give up. In a line drive hit, Cougar second baseman Trae Williams snagged the ball and threw the ball to first base for a double play. Patton retired the inning with one final strikeout giving the Cougars the win. He only gave up three hits in the entire game.

The team would begin to suffer in the second round forcing Round Rock to a third game decision at Texas A&M where the boys would fall 9-2. "I think we had a great year," Coach Rick Lynch said at the time. "We exceeded all expectations. We were picked at the beginning of the year to be in fifth place for the district and we made it to the playoffs."

The Tomball High School Baseball team capped off the winning season with six players named to the All-District squad and a coach of the year honor was earned by Lynch.

The Tomball pitching was unstoppable this year with three Cougar pitchers receiving All-District honors.

Sophomore pitching sensation Troy Patton took first team honors for his work on the mound. Patton led the district in ERA with a 1.11 and was tied in district for complete games pitched with five. He also led the district in starts. Patton had an 8-1 record at the end of the regular season.

Doug Frame and Blake Rampy received second team honors for their work on the mound. Frame led the district in strikeouts with 53. His record was 4-1 with a 1.8 ERA. Rampy threw relief all year. He had 22 strikeouts and was responsible for the Cougars win against Spring.

Veteran hitters Bobby Huff and Carson Kainer both took first team honors. The power hitting duo batted third and fourth in the lineup and were instrumental in the Cougars moving to the second round of the playoffs.

Coach Rick Lynch also took home honors in 2002 being named Coach of the Year of the 15-5A All District Squad.

The baseball team finished 2002 with a trip to Texas Children's Hospital to show support for the children in the hospital at Christmas time. The team also saw Senior Carson Kainer sign a letter of intent to the University of Texas at Austin and Doug Frame sign the dotted line for Texas A&M.

Football preview

In July, football predictions began on the new district alignments. Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine, an icon of Texas football folklore, singled out two Tomball High School football players for its Top 300 list in anticipation of the fall football season. Out of their eight team